Flappy Bird Creator Says ‘It’s Gone Forever’

The app's creator Dong Nguyen says he yanked it from the Internet because it was too addictive and had 'become a problem'

Flappy Bird fans are questioning why on earth its mysterious developer would pull the wildly successful game after it became an instantaneous success, rising to the top of Apple’s App Store and pulling in an estimated $50,000 a day from advertising. But for Dong Nguyen, the 29-year-old Vietnamese game maker, the fact that it had people so hooked is exactly why it had to be deleted.

“Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed,” Nguyen told Forbes,which noted that the creator seemed stressed and smoked several cigarettes during the 45-minute interview. “But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever.”

People are so desperate to continue playing the difficult game that some are bidding up to $100,000 on eBay for an iPhone with the game installed. Reviewers of the game in the app store said that they would have sold their soul to Satan to have not downloaded the app, and Nguyen did not want that devilish connotation.

Nguyen had previously tweeted that the instantaneous fame is what was getting to him.

I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.

Nguyen told Forbes that he couldn’t sleep and his life had taken an uncomfortable turn. He does see a silver lining: “After the success of Flappy Bird, I feel more confident, and I have the freedom to do what I want to do.”